stories that shaped this week the blockade of the libyan town of bani walid group more deadly with reports of chemical weapons being used against the remaining population we bring you i witness accounts from the battle scene. tens of thousands unite in a show of anger in italy and spain calling on their governments to stop enforcing the measures which they call a social massacre. the final presidential debate between barack obama and mitt romney fails to give either the leave of the party candidates defying a media blackout to suggest alternative policies.

with a look back at the past seven days top stories and the latest developments this is the weekly on r.t. the apparent use of chemical weapons against civilians humanitarian crisis stranded refugees more deaths their reality for the libyan town of bani walid this week the residents there are calling for international help as army and pro-government militias continue to shell the former gadhafi stronghold. has been gathering eyewitness accounts from the besieged town and you may find some of the images in the report graphic. these are the pictures the world has chosen not to see dismembered bodies random killings dying women and children for three weeks the libyan city of bani walid has been under siege armed militia gangs patrolled the streets looting houses bulldozing properties and shooting indiscriminately if you want to you almost of. people are so concerned for the safety of their families

they don't want to be identified. it was chaotic shiling they fired at home is and shouted indiscriminately more than two thousand families have fled seven families are with us at the moment yes they were fled to the valley but they were firing into even their their families who died in the shelling children died too they fired by women and children straight to the head it started with the order for the army to use all means necessary to rid the former gadhafi stronghold of all his supporters there were accused of kidnappings and murdering a former militia man credited with capturing the libyan leader last year i would misses and doctors on the scene say people are being fired at with gas folder shells r.t. sources report seeing militia trying to hide and remove bodies of those killed by chemical weapons i can confirm that these militias used internationally prohibited weapons they used phosphorous bombs and nerve gas we have documented all these and videos were recorded the missiles they used on the white phosphorus raining down

from these missiles many people died without being wounded shot they died as a result of gases the red cross is to me it's more than twenty five thousand people have so far been made homeless refugees who in the confusion of the past few days trying to return home after the army announced the city had fallen and they're now stranded on the desert highway in fear and panic look at this the people there. this is good this gun and this people know this short thing now why you don't know one week now this neighborhood go outside and know what they were doing when i was living when i think when when one of the government. i saw explosions and rockets about our heads i saw the dad. but the general national council denies the killings despite the evidence to the contrary where the government force a. place where there would go as high that of course there will be.

flowing mistakes but the whole picture of the whole thing is being handled better frankly we are taking care of all the family and it's not only the libyan authorities that are in denial western governments and mainstream media have also chosen to be silent prompting the charge of double standards to be leveled at them let's think back to carry twenty eleven we couldn't because in the u.k. or us or put on the b.b.c. or c.n.n. we were hearing about what was going to be a humanitarian disaster which whole kind of we got all the killing lots of people and today the situation in libya is much worse you've got a humanitarian catastrophe taking place we've got massacres going on at the moment and schilens complete silence here the chaotic scenes of a throwback to the long running rivalry between wizards of bani walid and misrata a city khadafi laid siege to they also show the weakness of the new government's authority of a former rebel militias which oh it illegal but essentially do what they like.

power so it's a leech is a message to all of them across libya wherever they are whoever you are and however strong you are your backers are the revolution should win. it's a year since independence came to this oil rich country but little seems to have changed for ordinary libyans many of the crimes gadhafi was accused of are now being laid at the foot of the general national council a reminder that for many the arab spring turned out to be a very cold winter policia r.t. beirut. russia's cool new u.n. security council to urge the libyan authorities to resolve the money will need conflict peacefully the proposal who was dropped by the u.s. which took part in the bombing campaign under the guise of protecting civilians from then leader moammar gadhafi. reports from new york. while the united nations has focused much attention this week on the ongoing conflicts in syria and

mali russia's efforts to address the death and destruction taking place in libya was blocked by the united states washington refused to support a security council press statement drafted by russia calling for the resolution of violence in bani walid which has been under siege for weeks the u.s. delegation cited a further need for consultations meanwhile the russian ambassador to the u.n. . says that it's quite strange the u.s. would have a lock a press statement condemning the use of force in dealing with libya's political problems just one month after a deadly attack in benghazi claimed the lives of four diplomats embassador churkin said it is difficult in this case to explain the u.s. delegation actions in a rational terms now russia has dropped her statement calls on the libyan authorities to take urgent steps to resolve the conflict by peaceful means and to preserve the rights of all living in citizens that also expressed concern about the significant escalation of violence in and around the city of bani walid.

up to date with developments in and around the besieged town. the latest peace effort for syria fell apart this week with at least two terrible mings the largest attack took place in the capital damascus where at least five people were killed and many more injured by a car bomb explosion it happened during a proposed four day ceasefire to mark the muslim holiday read which speaks some rebel groups such as the radical al nusra front rejected outright another call to carry on fighting came from the leader of al qaeda he criticized world leaders for their losing grip on the syrian regime international affairs analyst says the truce plan was doomed to fail. but the government the story didn't see in syria is fond.

powers including the united states with this year or turkey itself although many of the countries like the u.k. france germany is providing the lead in support so they're really in qatar we know that they're awaiting procured and that's well they don't want repeats they want to remove the government of syria from first there but for the australian party. they believe that the rebels believe that they've got the momentum they've got the support from the outside world that i think they say that they're not going to abide by the states but it's because they haven't been pressured by the outside powers the back them perhaps they have even been told not to support the ceasefire . live here in moscow this is the weekly coming up later in the program an unconditional apology washington is unwilling to make after a high ranking pakistani politician was pulled off a flight to new york and questioned by u.s. officials about his views on unmanned drone attacks. plus points a finger at tel aviv saying an explosion at a cartoon weapons factory was

a surgical strike by israeli jets. a story still to come but first tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of italy and spain today in anger over tough economic measures being forced upon them the show of discontent turned ugly in the northern italian town where police used tear gas and buttons to disperse the crowds because of the sara first reports the struggling public is still determined to get its message heard. getting back at a stereo say people over a year to continuing to fight against this a measure instead of fighting deeper and deeper into the public and private purpose of many usa nations clashes with police break out in the north of italy thousands marched against the government in the capital right in the movies and see munty day similar scenes we witnessed in the trade spend his time that owned us to rally against never ending government cuts but we feel like we are now under

a percentage by our government that they are doing this that we are no we don't agree with them and we are telling them on the diamond but they don't listen as it is start youngest spread across year thousands of people have taken to the street and it's not just in madrid for in greece to italy big you're using countries and small this is the year a crisis that doesn't discriminate affecting people of all ages and from all walks of life here in spain the unemployment figures now told a whopping twenty five percent this the younger generation that's been hit the hardest and it is that for the country you see that the sixteen to twenty four year old in the house of work everything using creasing unemployment over to. the firms to train the processing in people here police offices. dividing the protesters from the governments that more and more they growing to like that of

g.t. you'll find many of them joining the much. lower enforcement of feeling the pinch the need amongst many protesters the great break. many times the floor and still they tell us nothing seems changed. is actually not to cut back spending but to invest more in the economy to invest in growth to make sure that there are jobs and the only way to lawfully. get out of this. not to cut your way out of that so one of the main arguments of the people here is that if you actually listen to the people who are not your good interests. you will come up with a lot more sensible and a lot more rational response through this process a dogmatic insistence on austerity this in successive governments across the isolated from their electorate and amongst the your own members themselves divisions a widening a explains witnessing this independently bit yesterday near in the basque country

those demanding freedom and elect things that the politicians do while greece is fighting enough surge of radical nationalist sentiment is leading to the grave of far right in fascist streets seems like these make it hard to believe that earlier this month even with warded the new peace prize bringing stability and unity to the previously want to win clinton and some protest is calling it a safe muska with a massive euro white strike planned for later this month it seems as long as things continue as they are there will be no peace here so if that r.t. the. police in greece have a rest of the journalist who published a list of the country's political and business elite holding swiss bank accounts there was no blower accuses the greek government of failing to go off to tax evaders part of the same time preparing to push through more belt tightening measures for the struggling population professor economics young has been farkas says the politicians are reluctant to investigate because of their own involvement

. really investigated it bordering greece has been arrested for effectively selling the public interest that the vast majority of the relation fear. politicians use are simply. keen to expose the network of court action which in was glad to extend good politicians and businessmen for fifty years now during this crisis with these being imposed upon the vast majority of workers who'll have no alternative but to pay that tax politicians of the major parties are pointing moralizing fingers at that we can members of fix or say we say no you have not been painted x. you've been vaccinated this is why it's after that it will state so now that to do this coming out of their tax evasion and about the fact that tax evasion is again

played fairly skillfully and as it has been happening for the last thirty or forty years now they are taking really keen to be idle in the face of such a list more news still to come in just a few minutes. nineteen iranian channels have been banned in the countries that's called iran for not tolerating free speech among other things well played lads well played i love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning personally a bit of censorship doesn't bother me that much because there has always been censorship and there were always be censorship if there are any words or symbols or

opinions that could get you bumped off fear or legal trouble in your country then guess what you have censorship sorry to say it but that's how it is i don't mind a country saying that there is something so antithetical to their way of life that it must be banned i'm fine with that that's your business in your country and you should be able to protect your culture and your values but the lie to me and tell me that you live censorship free when you don't it's your choice you let your reading channels back on the air or come out of the closet and admit you believe in restricted speech but that's just my opinion. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom part of the big picture.

will come to the. critics so were cowards this month the mood is the center of our universe the tides of forever while the sun's rays can be fickle innovative construction methods last cause as well as environmental damage. brand new turbines boost efficiency with a simplified design and who needs batteries to store energy discover a new era of clean power driven by the moon. here. we go to the future. you want your weekly here naughty and to the u.s. where this week failed to bring any clarity as to who is likely to be the next president the democrat or republican candidates are effectively neck and neck some diversity was brought into the race by the third party debates which offered

a different slant on the key issues only ulti was one of the very few media outlets taking any notice here's some of the highlights. the president has assumed dictatorial rights to put us in prison at his pleasure without charge or without trial we are on the road toward to him and that's not an exaggeration the biggest threat to our national security is the fact that we're bankrupt we need to retrench rather than trying to be the policeman of the world we need to put an end to the use of drones and actually lead not to lead this development of a new arms race but then an international treaty and the convention to permanently banned the use of drones we're printing and borrowing money to the tune of forty three cents out of every dollar we spend. sixteen dollars is bearing.

add as. we well like germany after world war i. the final face off of the third party presidential candidates will be brought to you exclusively by auntie in a week's time the two front runners came together for their third debate this week focusing on u.s. foreign policy but those who were expecting some frank ideological exchanges disappointed with barack obama and mitt romney once again displaying striking similarities u.s. foreign policy analyst cone has explained the reasons behind that. one of the mistakes that people make is that they think that this is a debate between two men and i think what's important to do is to see who basically are the groups of advisors and a group of people behind the president and the groups of people behind romney are really the same people that all of us the iraq war under the what they call the neo conservatives they want a much more aggressive foreign policy but americans don't want that

a majority of americans don't want to fight a war with iran seventy percent of them don't want to do it unilaterally americans want to cut military spending that's what the whole show so what what romney had to do was to sort of back away from a lot of those positions except on military spending and seem much more reasonable and sort of centrist if he sort of plays out what's really in his cards i think it into scaring a lot of people and of losing votes and so that was part of what was going on there he was trying to move more toward obama and so it wasn't a big day. and all special coverage of the u.s. presidential campaign will continue on air and online introducing a fresh perspective on the race starting this coming monday we'll be exploring america's domestic policies and challenges in depth stay with altie for that. what lies ahead for occupying will the movements mobilize calls for

a new america who stands for the ninety nine percent u.s. election in place god monday to the twenty ninth on r.t. . the high profile pakistani politician imran khan has been interrogated by u.s. officials over his anti drone views pulled off a plane to new york he had to explain the details of his campaign against deadly american airstrikes in pakistan the former cricket star is asked for an apology results easily in english to reports washington remains unrepentant about its controversial program. killing the civilians of one country in the name of security of another the united states has been doing just that for over eighteen years in pakistan. there are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered three thousand americans they are plotting to strike again federally administered tribal areas burned bright red on the map that's where u.s. drone attacks have been killing thousands of people claiming the majority of them are militant extremists

a study led by scholars from new york and stanford university's found that only around two percent of the total number of deaths were militants among the remaining several thousand victims of drone attacks and even seventy five were children the fact of the matter remains the us has been carrying out military operations in the country that it is not at war with and the international community says almost nothing about actions which are illegal by international standards the rights to have two options either stop the steps in the sentence the talks. i mentioned the. twenty pounds i think the watch was worth something to the wise to. this. that going today islamabad and washington were all smiles each seeking to benefit from cooperation centered on dealing with the persistent problem though there was a cool off in the relationship in the one nine hundred seventy s.

when pakistan began working on its nuclear bomb the valves were removed in the wake of the two thousand and one world trade center bombing and the ensuing war on terror presently however there seems to be no love lost in this don't strike an order counterproductive but. good and on the phone on strikes. again focus on solving. it's not just the buzzing of the drones however that threatens pakistan's integrity what was great is one of the greatest feats of the fight against terrorism. this designation of a solid and large and was a military operation carried out in secret and without knowledge of the pakistani authorities. then came the killing of twenty four pakistani soldiers and the u.s. led air strike forcing it to close down the nato supply routes for seven months it was reopened only after an official apology from the u.s.

secretary of state but with pakistan itself calls to cut off cooperation or submission as many see it to the u.s. get louder with every passing week pakistanis believe the united states may be giving a lot of money to their government but is at the same time taking away the country's sovereignty and killing its people in islamabad. a report from an american based monitoring group says an explosion at a sudanese weapons factory was a surgical strike sadam blamed the attack on israel and promised to retaliate tel aviv declined to comment but accused of having a key role in an iranian backed shipping network political analyst dr. thinks the identity of the aggressor is obvious. this is not the first attack again. it has happened before the war in the beginning of two thousand and nine there have

been a number of attacks against sudanese territory and it is largely to say that israel is the country that is responsible for such attacks again is. my understanding also is that after the war again as the previous american administration and the previous israeli government but it's our understanding to fight terrorism right on its sources israel is a country that is interested in fighting against other countries who are allegedly supplying us with weapons and supporting hamas politically to other international news now at least four people being killed and twenty three wounded in the powerful blast outside a sunni muslim shrine in northwest pakistan a senior police officer was among those injured no one has claimed responsibility so far but some militant movements including the taliban have been blamed for previous attacks of this kind. tsunami threat to why it has seemingly been

spared severe damage after a warning of possible disaster was downgraded i believe was caused by powerful earthquake near the canadian was supposed to hit the island earlier today putting many to evacuate the area but it's not expected to. be called a spacecraft dragon as undocked from the international space station ahead of its return to earth has to be moved to a safe distance away from the s.s. before it can begin the journey it was dragon's first contracted mission to the space complex where it was delivering over four hundred kilos of food and supplies ok look ukraine is lighting a new parliament with a new voting system in place and i'm room for surprises and it's not easy to reports a form of boxing champion and his party may end up with enough political weight to make or break the opposition. after what was the most expensive election in the history of silver in ukraine worth more than two billion dollars polling stations of opened across the country thirty six million voters in ukraine will elect its

new parliament the outcome of this election is very much unpredictable mainly because it's a completely new voting system and the result of the election may go either way there are many independent candidates which are not belonging to any party and they eventually could have final say inside the parliament and will be able to choose which alliance of parties there will be joining in the new coalition a coalition which can actually spell big trouble for the current president victory on the politics because the opposition in ukraine has already declared to the president if they gain a majority in parliament in one way or another the biggest dark horse of this election is the former boxer who is now finished his career heavyweight champion of the world. he made a surprising rice through the political ranks in ukraine just a year ago imagine his party stood at less than two percent of the votes now different opinion polls put his party at second place and many say that it will be

klitschko who will eventually have the final say in the forming of a new coalition inside the parliament certainly we'll we'll be bringing all the latest results in this rather interesting vote as we get them. in just a couple of minutes to u.k. based economist mark little bit about what he thinks should be done to heal europe's ailing finances this is the weekly this is. gracefully dancing across the arctic tundra more than just a scenic image it is a way of life traditionally the people are. herders in many ways they. are also highly skilled and organized. the response is depending. on the day we found this particular camp they were

settled near the coast of the see here for families work together to manage nearly a thousand reindeer herding reindeer is not just a job for the people in fact it's a part of their entire culture heritage and way of life and that they can use almost every single part of the reindeer to help them survive. a deer is a means of transportation. equipment and clothes and for the. life in the tundra is harsh and so before winter hits many of the children are helicoptered to the center of the district for boarding school. students learn different languages utilize modern technologies through specialized grant programs and even learn arts skills all within a protected environment the school was founded. a scientist who wanted

a better way of life for his people but even with the most progressive ideas and education many say they don't want to trade the modern life. i have returned to the tundra and i actually like it here if you're outside there's fresh air fresh water looks at the site you can see deer it's a joyful sight. sentiment that hopefully ensures that russia's northern reindeer will have caretakers for generations to come. i'm with mark little words the director of the institute of economic affairs he says that austerity measures aren't a recipe for economic growth but they all a pre wrecked.